Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Oh my God, I am so behind on reviewing things. At least I've read this book enough that I'll remember most of the details, right?

As you may have guessed, this book follows the stories of two teenage boys named Will Grayson, both residents of the Chicago suburbs. Capital letters using-Will narrates the first chapter, and then he and lowercase will switch off.

Will essentially drops us right into the middle of his life, telling us about about his friend Tiny Cooper and their misadventurous night out at what was supposed to be a Neutral Milk Hotel concert.The brightest part of the night? Meeting Jane, a new friend of Tiny's who may or may not be into Will.

will's life, however, isn't quite as typical suburban teenager-y. He's on antidepressants and has only one real life friend, a relatively annoying girl named Maura. Mostly what he lives for is talking online with his crush, Isaac.

Will and will meet when Will's fake ID isn't quite fake enough to get him into a 21+ concert with Tiny and Jane, and will learns that there never was an Isaac for him to meet. Isaac was actually Maura catfishing him. Will and will chat for a moment before Will hands will over to Tiny, who is flamboyant, fabulous, and a sucker for boys like will.

Their stories both collide and diverge as the novel goes on. Will falls for Jane, but she has a boyfriend, of course - why else would he be interested? will starts to date Tiny, but the difference in their lifestyles slowly drives will away. Tiny Cooper affects both Wills for the better, though, and they decide to show their appreciation for him at the opening night of Hold Me Closer, Tiny's autobiographical, self-directed, self-led musical.

(Wow, that may have been my most succinct summary ever. Good job, me!)

I realize this book is about the Wills Grayson, but let's be real, the actual star of this novel is Tiny Cooper, the world's largest, gayest man. He is loving and hilarious and surprisingly deep, and I want him to be my best friend forever and ever. I also want Hold Me Closer to debut on Broadway, like, immediately. (Levithan already wrote one of the songs! It could happen!)

I also love the amount of character growth in this novel. Both Wills realize that instead of hoping Tiny becomes what they want him to be, they should learn to accept Tiny for who he is and maybe not care so much about what the imaginary audience of their lives should think, and it is beautiful. Will goes from a rigid, arbitrary rule-loving kid to someone who understands that you have to put yourself out there for love and will learns that being an angry loner isn't the only option available to him, and it feels good.

My favorite Will Grayson is probably capital-W Will. I found myself getting frustrated with will's constant anger, although it made me question whether he was doing it consciously or if his depression made it uncontrollable at times. I still enjoyed will's portions, but I liked Will's narration (and especially Tiny and Jane's appearances) better, probably because I liked his friends.

Overall, Will Grayson, Will Grayson is emotional and funny in turns, and it delves into both hetero- and homosexual relationships without making one seem better or more normal than the other. It also gives equal time to the friendships that comprise a lot of the story, which you don't always see in YA fiction. Four and a half stars.

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars!

Because book adaptations totally count as a thing I can review on this blog, though I'm not up on a lot of the technical aspects of movie-making.

Warning: I'm obviously going to talk about a lot of spoilers in this review, so if you haven't read the book/don't want to know movie details before seeing it, stay away!

First things first, the casting was flawless oh my God. I admit, I was one of those fangirls who was mad that Nat doesn't look like book Isaac and was afraid that Secret Life is a true reflection of Shailene's acting abilities, but all of those woes were completely for naught. Shailene nails Hazel's dry but caring personality, Nat makes Isaac even funnier than he was in the novel, and Ansel is the perfect Gus with just the right balance of cockiness and sincerity. Shailene and Ansel's chemistry is also so compelling and realistic, which only made the ending hurt even more. (Yeah, I didn't know it could get more painful, either.)

I was also super pleased with how closely the movie followed the general plot of the novel. There were a few minor cuts and changes (I missed you, pedophilic swing set!), but none of the deeper feeling was lost, which is truly impressive in a book-to-movie adaptation. There were also no truly major changes from the novel, which was a major relief. (After the fiasco that was the Percy Jackson movies, I have some trust issues with film adaptations.) If a change was made, the script adapted to fit the new circumstance, rather than sticking exactly to the canon of the novel and leaving plot holes the size of a cannonball.

The scenes I'm thinking of as I say that take place at the end of the movie, after Gus's funeral. Van Houten snuck into Hazel's car, like in the novel, but instead of simply insinuating that Gus had written something for her, he hands her an envelope that she promptly crumples up, thinking it's another crappy non sequitur from Van Houten himself. When Hazel's chatting with Isaac later, though, he tells her that that envelope was actually something Gus had written for her that he'd sent to Van Houten for proofreading. She's immediately able to go fetch the paper out of her car, skipping her fruitless search through his room like she undergoes in the novel. In a less faithful adaptation, a change like that would have angered me - how dare they change something that didn't need fixing? However, the movie felt like it was drawing to a timely conclusion already, and it didn't need the extra minutes searching Gus's room would have required. We also never met Gus's sisters like we did in the novel, and we barely saw his parents, so Hazel didn't have the rapport with them like she did in the book that allowed her downstairs in the first place. This change to her already having the letter felt natural and let us get to Gus's emotional eulogy for Hazel quicker, so I have no complaints.

Speaking of things that are emotional, bring your tissues to this movie. I cannot possibly stress this point enough. I'm a wuss who started crying at "Perhaps okay will be our always," but even my tough-as-nails friends were telling me to pass my packs of Kleenex by the time Gus's funeral rolled around. Also: maybe don't wear mascara. Also also: bring comfort snacks. My jumbo sized bag of Buncha Crunch was my best friend during this film.

Before you start fearing that this movie is going to make you want to cry alone in your bedroom for the rest of your life, though, please remember that it's also genuinely funny. My whole theater was snickering within the first three minutes, and the amount of laughter rivaled the amount of tears. There were plenty of scenes that made me cry for a few seconds before I'd bust out a snort at one of Hazel's one-liners. 

Ultimately, this movie is a celebration of life. It makes you laugh, makes you cry, and reminds you that "cancer" is not a defining personality trait. It's emotional but never sentimental, and I'm incredibly grateful this story exists. In a perfect world, this movie would make the YA-nonbelievers sit up and listen.

Rating: 5/5 stars, an ocean of my own tears, multiple ugly laughs.